2020 goes down in modern history as the pandemic year. Which has mean, of course, less tasted wines, less tasting dinners and less wine travels.
652 wines tasted. Many young wines makes the list this year. And only four Baroli! :-)
A toast to a better 2021!
1997 Bourriquot, Havens
Two California bottles with some age makes the list. This Cheval Blanc look a like showed a perfect maturity with seamless fruit and that great character of aged Cabernet Franc.
95p (tasted 2020/06)
1997 Profile, Merryvale
The label looks like leaf gold and in all fairness a bit tacky, but what´s in the bottle is pure gold, a gorgeously mature Cabernet Sauvignon with everything in place.
95p (tasted 2020/08)
2000 Château Pichon-Baron
Aaah, Bordeaux, my first love, and tasting a great specimen like this makes my spine tingle. This beauty showed why Bordeaux is one of the worlds greatest wines.
97p (2020/03)
2001 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldcap, Joh. Jos. Prüm
Even a leaking bottle from Prüm makes the list of the most memorable bottles tasted, so great are these wines. But I will restraine myself from open another for at least 10 years...
97p (tasted 2020/11)
2001 Barolo Pajana, Domenico Clerico
Great Barolo needs time. Even with 19 years under the cork this Pajana needed lots of hours of breathing before really open up. With a cheap pizza it delivered the goods.
95p (tasted 2020/08)
2009 Volnay Clos de la Bousse d´Or, Pousse d´Or
Summer, a great chicken dish (as I recall) and a awesome Burgundy - life could be worse, sitting outside on a warm evening, finishing this bottle of.
97p (tasted 2020/07)
2010 Barolo Rocche dell´Annunziata, Paolo Scavino
This wine made The Ten Most Memorable list of 2016 with a perfect score. On location in Langhe, eating a great meal with friends at Il Centro, it didn´t reach that height but almost, just give it 10+ years.
97p (tasted 2020/02)
2016 Barolo Vigna Rionda, Luigi Pira
One of the few highlights of this miserable year was The Barolo Boys visit to Grandi Langhe in January. We also had time for a few visits. Tasting the 2016 Barolo from the hands of Gianpaolo was a real treat, with the Vigna Rionda a sure candidate for perfection.
99p (tasted 2020/01)
2016 Barolo Romirasco, Aldo Conterno
Another candidate for perfection is the 16 Romirasco. Spending some hours with Giacomo is really the best of times.
98p (tasted 2020/01)
2016 Côte-Rôtie La Mouline/La Turque/La Landonne, Guigal
A little cheating here - three in one! Three worlds class wines that I had the privilige to taste over a splendid lunch with Philippe Guigal present through Zoom. If I was forced to choose I would pick La Turque today but who knows what my pick would be in 10, 20 or 30 years time...
97/98/98p (tasted 2020/10)
What's this? No Dolcetto??? Shame! Shame!
ReplyDeleteI bow my head and ask for forgiveness...
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